EDIT! BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE FOLLOW UP TO THIS POST BY READING HERE!!!
There is a great book by John C. Maxwell called "There's No Such Thing As Business Ethics." The idea that the book proposes, in short, is that ethics are ethics regardless of whether they have anything to do with business.
For years, the team at Anime Festival Orlando has helped staff and operate the video game room/video game section for MegaCon in Orlando, Florida. This loyalty, it seems, has been grossly misplaced in my opinion.
At the beginning of the year, MegaCon began to market a new summer event: Mini-MegaCon. The design of the event (up until about two and a half weeks ago) seemed to be a small scale science fiction and fantasy show with comic book related programming.
You see, Mini-MegaCon takes place three weeks after Anime Festival Orlando... so one would assume that professional courtesy would prompt MegaCon to withhold any anime related programming, right? I mean, the folks at AFO have been supporting MegaCon for years and this year AFO will be celebrating their tenth year - so MegaCon would never do anything to harm the integrity of a show that has supported them. Right? RIGHT?
WRONG.
About two/three weeks ago, anime voice actor (and regular to the anime con circuit) Vic Mignogna was confirmed to appear at Mini-Megacon... a mere three weeks after appearing at Anime Festival Orlando just two miles down the road! Poor form.
This past weekend (July 25th to be exact) - Anime Sushi, Orlando's "Premiere" Anime Club, announced an entire track of anime related events. Anime Sushi alumni have been integral to this year's creative process for Anime Festival Orlando, so why would they start counter advertising for their events less that a week before AFO? This move is further proof of how apathetic that club is to the "community." Poor form.
So my recommendation to local anime fans? Skip Mini-Megacon and support Anime Festival Orlando. Enjoy an entire weekend of anime related events (including a guest list that boasts the Fullmetal Alchemist cast!) instead of a small convention center show with "some" anime. MegaCon will be back in the spring for you to enjoy - but there is no need to spend money on the same show twice a year... especially if actions like this prove that they don't deserve your hard earned dollars.
So while a bunch of the usual idiots will read this and do the usual "OMGTOMCROOMISBEINGANASS" bullshit that usually ensues, I ask that you keep the following in mind:
Con drama and politics have been around for years, and it's all fun and games until you start fucking with other peoples' money and time.
Then it is no longer con drama... it's poor ethics.
3 comments:
I agree Tom. My friends and I are going to AFO because we're convention loyal. We've been going since AFO 3 and aren't gonna be lured in by an overpriced mini-con. AFO is great and it gets better every year and I can't wait for the weekend!
- Lauren R.
Thats just wrong. Up until now, EVERYONE and their mothers were saying that Mini-mega was just going to be a sci-fi comic/ fantasy show, specifically WITHOUT anime. Ironically, I can't attend Mini-mega due to it being college move-in weekend for me.
Why do you care? It's not like Mini-Megacon screwed you out of thousands of dollars. You posting about this is giving them MORE promotion!
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